Sunday, May 26, 2013

King's Chicken Curry

I was lazily channel-surfing one afternoon when I caught a glimpse of a man cooking in the outdoors. I quickly flipped back and saw that he was high up on a deserted mountain cooking a chicken curry on a small wood stove. He proceeded to make a paste with fresh turmeric and some other spices using the floor as base and another stone to grind with. It was all so rustic.

As I continued to watch, I learnt that he was in Sri Lanka making a regal curry. What struck me though was that the ingredients used were quite similar to Pakistani ones and most of them are readily available in a Pakistani kitchen.

I googled the recipe, determined to try it for myself. The programme was My Sri Lanka with Peter Kuruvita on NatGeo Adventure. It's a 10-part series and I'm not entirely sure which episode I was watching, but I'm glad I found the recipe online.

With the exception of sandalwood and fresh turmeric (I used turmeric powder instead) I knew I could get together all the ingredients I needed to make this dish.

Served with rice this chicken curry is delicious and so unique. I love the
flavour the paan brings to it, along with the other spices, all held
together in the slightly tangy coconut-creamy chicken broth.

3 comments:

Hello Sahar! Greetings from India! I watched Peter's program on Fox Traveller channel by chance today morning and like you, I too was enamored by the rustic charm of the beautiful Srilankan dish cooked outdoors. I was googling the recipe and it brought me to your blog :) I'm going to try the King's curry recipe today evening. Your photos of the same look amazing. :)